Purdue  University  Library 


Summary  of  Reports  for  three  years 

July  lit,  1904  to  June  30th,  1907 


^THE  members  of  the  Instructional  Corps  of  the  University  are 
asked  to  give  some  attention  to  the  following  summary  of  the 
reports  made  to  the  President  during  the  last  three  years,  as  an 
opportunity  will  soon  be  given  to  discuss  the  general  subject  of  the 
development  and  administration  of  the  Library.  It  is  the  wish  of 
those  directly  responsible  for  the  development  of  this  department 
to  enlist  the  active  support  and  intelligent  interest  of  each  member 
of  the  teaching  staff  to  the  end  that  the  library  may  more  effectively 
perform  its  work. 

I.  GROWTH. 

During  the  three  years  ending  June  30th,  1907,  the  Library  added 
4880  volumes  exclusive  of  pamphlets  and  some  miscellaneous  material 
not  yet  accessioned,  an  average  of  1600  volumes  per  year.  Of  these 
2445  were  purchased  at  a cost  of  $4075.00  an  average  cost  per  volume 
of  $1.66.  1367  were  added  by  binding,  most  of  these  being  periodi- 

cals, and  895  were  received  as  gifts,  the  larger  part  being  from  state 
and  federal  government  departments.  The  total  estimated  contents 
of  the  library  on  the  above  date  was  22,334  volumes  and  pamphlets. 

The  serial  accessions  are  now  very  numerous,  more  than  1000 
separate  series  of  sequents  being  received,  totalling  about  9000  pieces 
per  year.  Of  these  serials  180  are  purchased  at  a cost  of  $660.00. 
The  binding  of  these  and  170  other  serials  received  as  gifts  costs 
$450.00  or  a total  of  $1100.00  per  year  for  periodicals,  an  average 
cost  of  $2.50  per  volume.  This  year  we  expect  to  add  25  new  peri- 
odicals by  purchase  bringing  the  cost  up  to  about  $1200.00. 


One  of  the  main  features  of  the  Library  policy  is  the  importance 
given  to  this  periodical  literature  and  the  effort  made  to  obtain 
complete  sets  of  such  as  are  currently  received.  What  has  been 
accomplished  along  this  line  is  shown  by  the  following  list  of  pur- 
chases during  the  last  three  years  : 

Transactions  Royal  Society  of  London 93 

Science 42 

Nature 13 

Annalen  der  Physik,  1877-99 __39 

Journal  Society  Chemical  Industry 16 

Zeitschrift  fur  physikalische  Chemie 50 

American  Journal  of  Mathematics 26 

Annals  of  Mathematics 

American  Journal  of  Sociology 9 

Annals  of  American  Academy 

Municipal  Affairs 6 

Journal  Institute  Electrical  Engineers,  Lend 33 

Street  Railway  Journal 

Street  Railway  Review 8 

Engineering  News 

Engineering  Record , __ _22 

Engineering 

Transactions  A.  S.  C.  E 

Critic 

World’s  Work 10 

Reader 4 

Masters  in  Art 6 

Modern  Philology 3 


__93  vol 

—42 

i < 

__13 

—39 

__16 

i i 

—50 

“ 

__26 

i c 

- 6 

i 6 

9 

,.24 

i 6 

..  6 

i i 

-33 

i 6 

—21 

< < 

8 

i i 

-10 

_.22 

i i 

-10 

< i 

__23 

—45 

“ 

-10 

i i 

The  Reference  Collection  has  also  been  strengthened.  The  fol- 
lowing works  have  been  added  : 

Universal  Encyclopedia 12  vol. 

New  International  Encyclopedia 20 

Dictionary  of  the  Bible 5 

Encyclopedia  of  Missions 1 

German  Dictionaries 6 

Modern  Eloquence 15 

Warner’s  Library  World’s  Best  Literature 45 

Chamber’s  Cyclopedia  of  English  Literature 3 

Library  of  Literary  Criticism 8 

History  for  Ready  Reference 6 

Appleton’s  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography,  6 

Modern  Mechanism 1 

Spon’s  Encyclopedia  of  Manufactures 2 

Rand  & McNally’s  Atlas 1 

Andree’s  Hand  Atlas 1 


II.  USE  OF  THE  LIBRARY. 

The  Library  is  now  open  a total  of  81%  hours  per  week.  The 
average  daily  attendance  is  about  350.  Separate  record  is  kept  of 
the  evening  and  Sunday  attendance  which  have  been  as  follows  for 
the  past  two  years.  Number  evenings  open  396,  total  attendance 
12,332,  average  31.  Number  Sundays  open  57,  total  attendance 
2183,  average  38.  On  two  occasions  this  fall  the  attendance  during 
the  evening  has  been  100  or  over. 

The  reference  use  of  the  Library  is  large  but  no  statistics 
have  been  kept  of  this  part  of  the  work.  The  circulation  of  books 
outside  the  library  now  averages  1000  per  month,  a daily  average 
of  40.  Of  this  circulation  last  year  Fiction  was  26.7%,  Periodicals 
19.7%,  Literature  16.1%,  Mechanical  Engineering  7.8%,  other  En- 
gineering subjects  6.4%,  Reserved  Books  5.4%,  Biology,  Sociology 
and  History  each  3%,  Biography  2.1%,  Physics  1.6%,  other  Sciences 
1.6%,  Art  1.3%,  Travel  1%. 

Last  year  997  students,  or  55%  of  the  whole,  borrowed  books 
from  the  Library.  22%  of  these  took  only  1 volume  each,  while 
44%  took  5 or  more  volumes  each.  81%  of  theSenier  class,  62%  of 
the  Junior  class,  56%  of  the  Sophomore  class  and  63%  of  the  Fresh- 
man class  used  the  Library  in  this  way. 

Last  year  534  volumes  were  placed  on  “ Reserved  Shelves  ” and 
382  the  previous  year.  Since  September  1907,  284  volumes  have 
been  reserved  and  these  were  used  3756  times,  an  average  of  13 
times  per  volume.  Special  attention  is  asked  to  this  feature  of  the 
work  of  the  Library  and  instructors  are  urged  to  take  further  ad- 
vantage of  this  method  of  using  Library  material. 

III.  FINANCIAL. 

From  1874  to  1895  the  average  amount  spent  for  books  and 
periodicals  was  $500.00  annually.  From  1896  to  1904  the  average 
was  $1000.00.  In  1904-05  the  total  expenditure  for  the  Library  ex- 
clusive of  salaries  was  $2752.33,  in  1905-06  it  was  $4384.54  and  in 
1906-07  it  was  $3705.81.  So  that  from  the  beginning  of  the  Library 
to  the  present  time  a fair  estimate  of  the  expenditure  would  be 
$30,000.00  exclusive  of  salaries,  furniture  and  structural  changes  in 
the  Reading  rooms. 


In  apportioning  the  Book  Fund  among  the  departments  no  de- 
finite amount  is  set  aside  for  each,  but  the  work  of  the  department 
is  taken  into  account  and  consideration  given  to  any  special  needs. 
The  various  departments  and  subjects  are  divided  into  classes  and 
an  approximate  amount  assigned  to  each  group  or  class.  In  the 
first  group  are  Mechanical,  Civil  and  Electrical  Engineering,  Agri- 
culture and  Biology;  in  the  second  group  are  Reference,  Literature, 
Physics,  Chemistry,  History,  Economics,  French  and  German,  Do- 
mestic Economy,  Mathematics  and  Pharmacy;  in  a third  group  are 
Art,  Fiction,  Biography  and  Travel.  For  the  last  three  years  the 
amounts  expended  annually  for  the  subjects  of  the  first  group  have 
ranged  from  $50.00  to  $150.00;  for  the  subjects  in  the  second  group 
the  range  has  been  from  $25.00  to  $100.00;  in  the  third  group  it  has 
been  from  $15.00  to  $35.00.  It  is  hoped  in  future  to  be  able  to  assign 
amounts  ranging  from  $100.00  to  $150.00  for  the  first  group,  $50.00 
to  $100.00  for  the  second  group  and  from  $25.00  to  $50.00  for  the 
third  group,  necessitating  an  annual  expenditure  for  books  alone 
of  $1700.00  or  more. 

V/.  M.  HEPBURN, 

January  31,  1908.  Librarian. 


